Got a Daily Diet Soda Habit? You're at Risk for This...

Got a daily diet soda habit? It might seem like an easy way to drink your beverage of choice without the added calories. But is diet soda healthy?

But new research by the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association suggests, tossing back two or more diet drinks a day puts you at risk for two of the leading causes of death in the United States...heart disease, and stroke.

Need a little more convincing to rethink your diet soda habit? In the study, researchers followed 80,000 people for about 12 years. They found that people who drank two or more (12-ounce) diet drinks per day are:

• 31 percent more likely to have a stroke
• 29 percent more likely to develop heart disease
• 16 percent more likely to die early

So what if you’ve got a daily diet soda habit?

You might find it hard to quit, cold-turkey and give it up. But you can. Here’s one way to quit drinking soda daily:

• Start by cutting back to one diet drink per day, and drink water the rest of the time.
• When you’re comfortable with that, only have a diet drink on the weekends or special occasions.
• Over time, you’ll get used to drinking water instead of soda.
• And you’ll cut your risk for heart disease and stroke, which claim the lives of an estimated 780,000 people a year.

Improving your diet and making better lifestyle choices is another effective way to help you make the switch from diet to drinking more water. And you’ll find plenty of healthy options to choose from on the Portion Control menu.